Archive for the ‘Children’ Category

As a society we’ve become quite skilled at assuming a person is homeless through some fault of their own — even when there is ample evidence to the contrary. I’m not sure why this is.

Perhaps it has to do with our having viewed homelessness through the eyes of stereotypes for so long that we aren’t willing to admit that we’ve been wrong. Or maybe it’s because if we concede that what we’ve believed all along is incorrect, we’ll have to come up with some way of explaining why we’ve done nothing to remedy homelessness.

All of which makes me wonder how long it will take before we do own up to it. I certainly hope it won’t be too much longer — especially for the sake of our nation’s children. (more…)

A person pushing a shopping cart. Or perhaps, someone who is standing outside a convenience store asking for spare change. Someone sleeping in a doorway or a public bench. Someone sitting or standing along the roadside or a corner holding a cardboard sign.

Most of us are familiar with these types of homeless individuals. And because their homelessness is overtly apparent, we may mistakenly believe that they represent the "typical" homeless person. That, in turn, blinds us to the reality that there is much more to homelessness than meets the eye.

New York City politicians and bureaucrats aren’t known for being the sharpest crayons in the box when it comes to addressing homelessness. In fact, their track record stinks – despite all of their braggadocio and rhetoric.

To give you an example of some of the "wonderful" solutions which have been put forth by NYC’s bureaucrats…

Someone, who is less than neatly dressed, pushing a shopping cart laden with all of their worldly possessions; a person trudging along the sidewalk beneath the weight of an overstuffed backpack; someone who is asking for spare change or perhaps standing on a corner holding a cardboard sign.

It’s the appearance that gives them away. And, based on visual clues, these are the types of persons most of us recognize as being our nations’ homeless.

However, because these individuals are those we visually "recognize" as being homeless, we fail to realize that homelessness isn’t always clearly apparent. Sometimes, homelessness is occurring right under our noses, completely unnoticed. (more…)